Pension case brought against Lloyds

There's trouble with the Lloyds Banking Group, and this isn't about shares and PPI scandals - this time, they're getting in legal trouble over the pensions they give their staff.

The Lloyds Trade Union, numbering 30,000 members, are starting to take action against the bank about a problem which could cost big UK companies £20 billion.

Basically, this is about guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs).

"It's been accepted by almost everyone that GMPs are by their nature discriminatory between men and women," the LTU said.

Why's that? Well, men and women gather their benefits at different rates and as you'll know, get their pensions at different ages (65 for men and 60 for women).

Mark Brown, general secretary at LTU, says: "GMPs is one of the last bastions of pensions discrimination and the issue needs to be resolved now. Up to 5 million women, including up to 148,000 in Lloyds Banking Group, have either got or are going to get smaller pension increases than men and that is simply unacceptable."

The case is being brought about on behalf of three members of staff, and if successful, will result in class action for 28,000 female members of the defined benefit pension schemes.

That could rise to 148,000 individuals in time, and at the time of publishing, Lloyds are not making any comment.

If the class action works against Lloyds, then you can guarantee that a lot of other cases will be brought against big companies that employ a similar pension scheme.